Tuesday, 2 February 2010

Gandhi’s ashes scattered in seaTo mark the 62nd anniversary of Gandhi’s death on January 30th, 1948, some of his ashes were recently sprinkled into the Indian Ocean off the South African coast. After his assassination, Gandhi’s body was cremated and his ashes were distributed amongst family, friends and followers. The ashes recently dispersed in the Indian Ocean were returned to Gandhi’s family last year, following the death of a family friend, Vilas Mehta, to whom they were given 62 years ago. The BBC reports.In Makers of the Twentieth Century: M. K. Gandhi Judith M. Brown argues that Gandhi's lasting significance lies not so much in what he actually did, but what he stood for.

Diary of the 'Angel of Death' up for auctionIn The TelegraphAllan Hall reports on the upcoming sale of Josef Mengele’s diary and letters by the auctioneers Alexander Autographs based in Stamford, Connecticut. The diary, which begins in 1960 when Mengele was 69, was recently discovered in police files in Brazil where he lived until his death in 1979. It is expected to fetch at least £40,000.

Globalisation in ancient RomeExcavations at an ancient Roman cemetery in Vagnari, west of the city of Bari in southern Italy, have revealed that one individual buried on the site was of East Asian descent. Tracy Prowse, assistant professor of Anthropology at McMaster University, believes the East Asian man may have been a slave or worker on the site, which was a centre for iron smelting and tile production. Vagnari was an Imperial estate owned by the emperor in Rome and controlled by a local administrator. The discovery has raised important questions about human mobility, identity and diversity in Roman Italy. Read the report on the website of Science Daily.For further information, visit our Ancient Rome focus page.